The NFL regular season is in the books, which means we are down to the final 14 teams. With the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs both on a bye, 12 teams will be in action this weekend.
Interestingly enough, four of the six games scheduled for the Wild Card Round (PIT-BAL, PHI-GB, WAS-TB, and MIN-LAR) are rematches from earlier in the season, so the teams participating in those matchups will have plenty of game tape to review.
Unfortunately, the Texans, Chargers, Broncos, and Bills will be going into the weekend with no prior experience against their opponents. But that’s good news for the fans because we could be in store for some surprising results!
Let’s take a look at the Wild Card Round slate and predict the winners.
📰 Table Of Contents
Saturday Games
Los Angeles Chargers @ Houston Texans
Even though the Texans are playing at home as the higher-seeded team, sportsbooks around the world have the Chargers winning this game.
A Chargers victory wouldn’t be too shocking because LA’s passing attack has been on fire as of late. In his last three games, Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert has completed 73.3% of his passes for 911 passing yards and seven touchdowns. Additionally, he finished the regular season with the seventh-best quarterback rating amongst starters. While Houston is fourth in the league in quarterback rating, the defense allowed 31 passing touchdowns during the 2024-25 campaign, the third-most in the NFL behind only the Panthers and the Falcons. If the Texans can keep the Chargers out of the red zone, then they could pull out the win.
Of course, Houston will have to put points on the board, but that has been a problem for the Texans this season (19th in scoring). They’ve had even more trouble against playoff teams being held to just 21 total points in two recent matchups against the Chiefs and Ravens. With the Chargers coming into this game with the league’s best scoring defense, Houston will almost certainly struggle to generate touchdowns.
Chargers win 24-20
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Baltimore Ravens
This will be the third game of the year between the Ravens and Steelers and the fifth matchup all-time between these two in the postseason. Pittsburgh and Baltimore split the season series during the 2024-25 campaign.
Though this game will end up being closer than expected, these squads are trending in opposite directions. Pittsburgh has lost four straight games coming into this contest, including a 34-17 loss to Baltimore in Week 16. Meanwhile, the Ravens have won four consecutive games.
Pittsburgh beat Baltimore in the first matchup of this season 18-16 by taking away the rushing attack and forcing the Ravens to beat them through the air. In Week 11, Ravens QB Lamar Jackson attempted 33 passes while the team was held to just 19 rushing attempts. Considering Baltimore goes to the ground 32.6 times per game this season, that was well below their average.
The Ravens flipped the script in Week 16 and used their top-ranked running game to gash Pittsburgh’s defense for 220 yards on 38 total carries, good for 5.8 yards per attempt. Ravens running back Derrick Henry had 162 rushing yards in that contest.
With Pittsburgh coming into this matchup with no momentum and an offense averaging 14.25 points in its last four games, Baltimore should be able to take care of its arch-rival.
Ravens win 27-19
Sunday Early Game
Denver Broncos @ Buffalo Bills
The Broncos are just 2-6 against playoff teams this season. While that doesn’t sound bad, their two wins came in Week Three against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and in Week 18 against a Kansas City Chiefs team that wasn’t starting Patrick Mahomes, Chirs Jones, Travis Kelce, and a slew of other important players. In reality, the Broncos are 1-6 against playoff qualifiers because the Chiefs squad we saw in Week 18 was not representative of KC’s true abilities.
More importantly, the Denver defense doesn’t have a lot of experience facing a dual-threat quarterback like Buffalo’s Josh Allen. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson is the only dual-threat quarterback Denver has faced this season, and he torched the Broncos’ defense for 280 passing yards and three TDs on his way to a perfect passer rating. Though Allen and Jackson’s playing styles are different, they’re very similar in their ability to beat teams through the air and on the ground.
What’s most troubling for the Broncos is that one could argue Josh Allen is playing his best football of the season at the moment. In his last four starts, the 2024 Pro Bowler has accumulated 1,237 total yards (309.25 yards per game) and scored 14 touchdowns (3.5 TDs per game), all while being held to just one interception!
Denver will need rookie quarterback Bo Nix to make some magic happen with the passing attack because the Bills’ defense is in the bottom half of the league in passing yards per game, quarterback rating allowed, and passing touchdowns surrendered. Still, I wouldn’t bet on a rookie QB going into Buffalo and having a great game while dealing with Highmark Stadium’s swirling winds.
Bills win 28-20
Sunday Late Game
Green Bay Packers @ Philadelphia Eagles
Though this is a rematch from a game played earlier in the season, the circumstances surrounding this matchup have completely changed. The Eagles and Packers first played four months ago in the second game of the NFL season on an awful field in Brazil. Both of these squads have transformed since then.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurt threw 34 passes in that contest when he only averaged 24 attempts per game during the regular season. Conversely, Packers QB Jordan Love completed 50% of his passes even though he finished the year with a completion rate of 63.1%. Nevertheless, both QBs will be coming into this game banged up – Jordan Love with a hurt elbow and Jalen Hurts dealing with a concussion – so the rushing attack will be key in this one.
Even though Green Bay running back Josh Jacobs had an excellent season rushing for over 1,300 yards, Saquon Barkley became just the ninth tailback ever to run for 2,000 yards in a season. Defending the run will be massively important for both teams, which is good because the Packers and Eagles are seventh and tenth in rush defense, respectively.
The Packers are dealing with more injuries to star players. Green Bay will be without wide receiver Christian Watson and former All-Pro defensive back Jaire Alexander. Though the Packers could survive without Watson, Alexander’s absence will be difficult to overcome when facing an offense that has DeVonta Smith, Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, and Dallas Goedert.
As a Packers fan, it kills me to pick against my team, but Green Bay looks overmatched headed into this one.
Eagles win 27-25
Sunday Night Football
Washington Commanders @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
This matchup will be a high-scoring affair because these teams rank fourth and fifth in points per game with the Buccaneers having a one-point edge over the Commanders. Moreover, both squads are in the bottom half of the league in terms of scoring defense (Tampa 16th and Washington 18th), so there should be plenty of points when all is said and done.
The way these teams score is drastically different. The Commanders finished the season fourth in rushing touchdowns while the Bucs finished tied with the Ravens for the second-most passing touchdowns this season. Though they both have their strengths, Washington’s passing attack (9th in touchdowns) is more potent than Tampa Bay’s ground game (14th in touchdowns).
In a matchup like this where the teams are so close, it’s best to consider playoff experience and coaching. With this being their fifth straight year making the playoffs, Tampa has way more postseason experience than Washington, which hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2020. On top of that, Commanders head coach Dan Quinn hasn’t coached in the playoffs since 2017, unlike Tampa Bay’s Todd Bowles who won a playoff game last year.
Realistically, this game will be decided by Washington’s rookie quarterback and likely Offensive Rookie of the Year Jayden Daniels. In his last four full games, Daniels has accounted for 1,227 total yards and 14 total touchdowns. If he continues to put up numbers like that, then the Commanders will be in a good position to pull off the upset win on the road. But if Daniels plays like he did in Week 11 against the Eagles, when he was held under 210 total yards, then the Bucs will win with ease.
Daniels will have a good outing, but Tampa quarterback Baker Mayfield will be too much for the Commanders.
Buccaneers win 30-26
Monday Night Football
Minnesota Vikings @ Los Angeles Rams
Very little separates these two as the Vikings come into this contest as one-point favorites despite being the road team. To be honest, though, Minnesota is a 14-win team and was one victory away from having a bye this week, so one could argue they’re the best Wild Card team of all time. Unfortunately for the Vikes, your record doesn’t matter once the postseason begins because all teams start the playoffs 0-0.
Many factors played a role in Minnesota’s 30-20 Week Eight loss to LA. Minnesota’s situational offense failed to meet expectations going just two for seven on third downs and two for four in the red zone, a worrisome trend considering they were 0/4 in the red zone and 3/13 on third down against the Lions in Week 18. The Vikings also didn’t do a good job of protecting quarterback Sam Darnold in that game after he was sacked three times.
The Rams have the offensive firepower to go toe-to-toe with Minnesota’s ninth-ranked scoring offense. They just need to make sure that they can get pressure on Sam Darnold. Over its last four games, LA has recorded ten sacks (2.5 sacks per game), which will not be enough to stop the Vikings’ offense. In Minnesota’s three losses this season, the offense has surrendered nine sacks, which equates to three per game. Therefore, LA will have to take down Sam Darnold at least three times if they want to win this matchup, something that’s reasonable since Minnesota has allowed the ninth-most sacks in the NFL this season.
The Vikings need to bounce back from Week 18. Fortunately, they couldn’t have played much worse in Detroit, so they have a good shot to pull out the win. The problem for the Vikings is that they are going up against one of the best wide receiver duos in the NFL in Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua. When these teams first played, both of those guys were returning from injury. This time around, they will be even more effective against a Vikings pass defense that is ranked 28th in yards per game.
This one will be decided by a game-winning field goal led by Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Rams win 29-27
